How Minerva Became Minnie
by Dimcairien
Summary: Ever wonder how Minerva got the nickname Minnie? It originally involved a mouse and a ribbon in the 1970's, but Teddy is doing it again. I know the nickname isn't canon, but for the sake of the story, it happened. Rating for very slight swearing.


_**A/N I discovered this half-finished story written on my iPod a few days ago, so I finished it and edited it. This takes place in October 2012, so it's during Teddy's fourth year.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**_

It was an ordinary day for Minerva McGonagall, headmistress of Hogwarts. By ordinary it meant that Teddy Lupin had already fallen down a flight of stairs, knocked multiple dishes off of the table, and had managed to destroy his desk, not to mentioned destruction by several other students. Most of these accidents involving Teddy and other students happened daily, the the incident with the desk wasn't as common. It had only happened once during his second year. She was extremely thankful she didn't have to deal with him or any of the students on a daily basis, but that was one of the joys of being Headmistress. It wasn't that she disliked children, but after the Marauders, the Weasley twins, and the Golden Trio, she was ready for a break and being Headmistress gave her a bit of one. Neville was the one who had to deal with Teddy and many of the others as he was Deputy Head and Head of Gryffindor.

Her joys were to be short-lived though, for just then her door opened and Neville entered the room with Teddy.

"What happened now?" sighed McGonagall, wondering if it as another accident or if Teddy had pulled a prank. Either was as likely as the other.

"I didn't do it," Teddy muttered his hair turning a light shade of red and both of those alone were as good as a confession for her.

"What happened?" McGonagall asked Neville, not daring to ask Teddy quite yet.

"Somehow he managed to flood the entire dungeon, Slytherin common room included," answered Neville, though there was a hint of amusement in his face.

"Lupin!" cried McGonagall, "Explain how this happened."

"It was Uncle George's fault!" protested Teddy.

"How can it be your uncle's fault if he is not currently at the school?" McGonagall asked.

"He told me to do it! He said he wanted to test his 'portable ocean.'" explained Teddy.

McGonagall suddenly remembered the twins remarkable portable swamp from their seventh year. It looked like George was still working with landforms of a sort.

"That may be, Mr. Lupin," said McGonagall, "but I would have thought that you'd know not to listen to George when he tells you to test a prank product for him. The next time he has you test something, either don't test it or test it on him."

"Yes'm," said Teddy, already trying to think of some way to prank his uncle.

"Is that all, Neville?" asked McGonagall. Neville nodded, and left Teddy with the Headmistress. After incidents like this she usually liked to talk with the student in question, and especially if it was Teddy.

McGonagall sighed briefly. Sometimes Teddy was too much like his father. "Teddy, please explain," she said, slipping into the use of his first name as they were now alone. Neville knew that the two were close, but she still had to keep up appearances as he was a teacher.

"Uncle George wanted me to test a new product out," Teddy answered, knowing that he should tell McGonagall exactly what happened. If he didn't, Harry had told him that he'd be in even more trouble. "He said to put it in the dungeons, preferably near the Slytherin common room, tap the package with my wand, and run. I didn't know I'd start a brilliant bloody flood!"

"Language, Teddy," reprimanded McGonagall. "You should know that if George wants you to test something on the Slytherins, it's bound to be dangerous. I hope you understand."

"Yes'm," answered Teddy.

"You will have a detention with Neville in the greenhouses tomorrow night at seven," McGonagall said. "Now go and try not to get into any more trouble today."

Teddy nodded and left.

As soon as he was gone, McGonagall sighed in relief, but her rest didn't last long.

"My dear professor," said Dumbledore's portrait.

"Yes, Albus?" asked McGonagall.

"You may want to look in a mirror."

With another sigh, McGonagall conjured up and mirror and when she saw her reflection she let out a loud cry of surprise. Perched atop her head were a set of mouse ears. And there was a pink bow as well.

Jumping up, she wrenched open the door and called, "Theodore Remus Lupin! Get here now!"

Her mind quickly went back to a similar incident back in 1974. The Marauders, namely Remus surprisingly, had done this exact same thing.

It was how the nickname Minnie had finally stuck. She sighed. That had to be Teddy's reason for pranking her. Sometimes he acted more like his father than what was good for him.

She wasn't at all sure how they managed to do it, but somehow they did it during a transfiguration lesson. Since the boys were such troublemakers, she had made them sit in the front row in order to keep an eye on them, but after the mouse incident, she had tried to stay as far away from them as possible.

She supposed it had happened when they were learning Switching Spells. She knew it had been that day though. There had been mice used the day before and she was absolutely certain that they had gotten a hold of it as well as a pink hair ribbon from one of the girls in their year. Somehow they had managed to spell the ears off of the mouse and attach the ribbon. She had no idea how it happened nor did she care to learn. It was the same with getting it on her head. What made it even worse was that she hadn't noticed it until after the class was over. The disruptive class should've made her notice something, but it hadn't.

Her musing was interrupted by Teddy slowly walking into the room.

"I thought you told me to go," he said.

"Did you do this?" McGonagall asked, gesturing to the object adorning her head.

Teddy's grin gave everything away. "Yeah," he said as his grin went wider. "Uncle Ron said 'Minnie' was a nickname of yours and I decided to make you Minnie Mouse."

McGonagall sighed and shook her head. "You know, your father did the exact same thing once along with James Potter and Sirius Black," she said.

"Really?" Teddy asked in awe. "Wow!"

McGonagall couldn't help smiling. Teddy truly was his father's son. "They did and they got in a lot of trouble for it."

"Am I in trouble?" Teddy asked quietly.

McGonagall sighed again. She wasn't sure what she should do. Teddy had played a prank against her, but it was a harmless prank, and it was one his father had done. "I'll let you get away free this time," she said, "but please don't do it again."

"Okay," Teddy answered. "Do I still have detention with Uncle Neville tomorrow?"

"Professor Longbottom," corrected McGongall, "and yes, you do."

"But you said I was getting out of it," protested Teddy.

"The Minnie Mouse incident is what you're getting out of," said McGonagall. "Now leave and don't get into any more trouble."

"Yes'm," said Teddy and he left.

"He is very much like his father," sighed McGonagall, "and his mother as well. I know both of them would be very proud of how he has turned out."

"They would indeed," responded Dumbledore's portrait. "They would indeed."


End file.
